Opportunities and Resources

Painting Residency

Every summer students have the opportunity to take part in a week long painting residency to Dumfries House in in East Ayrshire, Scotland. Students spend the week drawing and painting alongside their tutors in a diverse and inspiring environment. Dumfries House provides a rich artist’s resource, with collections of 18th century furniture, textiles and paintings on loan from the National Gallery of Scotland. The house is located in 2,000 acres of Scottish landscape.

Students attending the residency are asked to pay their own travel costs to Scotland but it is otherwise fully funded to ensure that all students are able to attend regardless of their financial circumstances.

End of Year Exhibition

An exhibition of students’ work is held at Trinity Buoy Wharf at the end of the academic year in June. This is an opportunity for students to gain experience in curating and hanging a show, and promoting their practice.

The exhibition is open for several days throughout the week and there is a private view to which family, friends, faculty and special guests are invited. This year’s exhibition was attended by over 600 people.

Unique Access

As part of the Contextual Studies component of the course, students receive unique access to private and national collections and talks not usually open to the public. Visits have been made to The National Gallery; V&A; Sir John Soane's Museum; the British Museum; Tate Modern; Tate Britain; Royal Academy; The Courthald; White Cube; Saatchi Gallery; Drawing Room; Hunterian Museum; Design Museum; Hauser & Wirth, Somerset; Serpentine Gallery; Imperial War Museum and the Wellcome Collection among others.